Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Schlumbergera bridgesii cultivar Cebelina.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Schlumbergera plant, botanically known as Schlumbergera bridgesii, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Cebelinaxe2x80x99.
The new Schlumbergera is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Odense, Denmark. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Schlumbergeras with good postproduction longevity.
The new Schlumbergera originated from a cross-pollination in November, 1994, of two proprietary seedling selections of Schlumbergera bridgesii, not patented. The new Schlumbergera was discovered and selected as a single plant from the resulting progeny of the cross-pollination by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Odense, Denmark, on Nov. 10, 1996.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cuttings taken at Odense, Denmark, since Jan. 10, 1997, has shown that the unique features of this new Schlumbergera are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Cebelina have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and/or light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Cebelinaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Cebelinaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact, upright and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Short phylloclades.
3. Freely branching growth habit.
4. Freely flowering with pale yellow-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Schlumbergera differ from plants of the parent selections primarily in flower color as plants of the female, or seed, parent have white-colored flowers and plants of the male, or pollen, parent have orange-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Schlumbergera can be compared to plants of the cultivar Gold Charm, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,104. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Odense, Denmark, plants of the new Schlumbergera differed from plants of the cultivar Gold Charm in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Schiumbergera had shorter and flatter phylloclades than plants of the cultivar Gold Charm.
2. Plants of the new Schiumbergera had shorter corolla tubes than plants of the cultivar Gold Charm.